'Fast & Furious' Star Paul Walker Killed in Car Crash

Santa Clarita, California (CNN) -- Actor Paul Walker, who shot to fame as star of the high-octane street racing franchise "Fast & Furious," died in a fiery car crash in Southern California on Saturday. He was 40.

Walker was in the passenger seat of a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT, driven by a racing team partner, that slammed into a light pole and burst into flames in an office park in the community of Valencia in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of Hollywood.
                                               

     
The actor was travelling as a passenger in a new Porsche when his friend who was driving - who has been described as an "experienced driver"  lost control of the vehicle and collided with a street light, and then a tree.

A statement on the actor's Facebook page said he was a passenger in a friend's car, and that Paul Walker  Killed was in the area to attend a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide.

Deputy Mark Pope said the accident was under investigation and he did not know how fast the car was going.

The Los Angeles Times identified the driver as Roger Rodas, 38, a friend of Walker's who owned Always Evolving, an auto dealership and racing services company.

Walker also is the star of "Hours," an independent film scheduled to be released December 13 about a father struggling to keep his newborn infant alive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

"Completely numb and saddened to hear of the tragic death of Paul Walker," wrote one.

Hollywood condolences came from Will Smith, Jack Osbourne, DMX and others.

'Mangalyaan Completes Last orbit Raising Manoeuvre'

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan completed a fifth and last repositioning to take it almost two lakh km from Earth successfully on Saturday morning, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.                                            

         
Now, the spacecraft will brace itself for the next critical event on December 1 when it has to move out of the Earth's sphere of influence and move towards Mars.
                                                     
India’s newly launched Mars orbiter, Mangalyaan, on Nov. 11 underperformed during the fourth of a planned six orbit-raising maneuvers necessary to boost the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and on its way to the red planet by Dec. 1, according to a statement from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Isro officials said the fifth-orbit raising manoeuvre started at 1:27 am, with a burn time of 243 seconds and an incremental velocity of 101.55 m/s. In the process, the 440N liquid engine raised the apogee from 118,642 km to 192,000 km.

The supplementary manoeuvre, which was completed by 5.10 am, added a velocity of 124.9 m/s to the spacecraft, it said.

During the orbit-raising operations conducted since November 7, Isro has been testing and exercising autonomy functions that are essential for Trans-Mars Injection (TMI) and Mars Orbit Insertion.

ISRO's PSLV C 25 successfully injected the 1,350-kg Mangalyaan Orbiter (Mars craft) into orbit around Earth some 44 minutes after a textbook launch at 2:38 PM from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Tuesday last, marking the successful completion of the first stage of the Rs 450-crore mission.

Dubai Chosen to Host 2020 World Expo

Dubai has been chosen to host the World Expo trade convention in 2020 - beating off rival bids from Brazil, Turkey and Russia.

Fireworks exploded from the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, following the announcement in Paris.

Dubai will be the first Middle Eastern city to hold the Expo, which takes place every five years.
                                       

                                     
The expo sees hundreds of countries show off the latest in architecture and technology.

Cultures and creativity

The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has promised to astonish the world with the event.

The Gulf city beat Russia's Yekaterinburg in the final round of voting in Paris. The other contenders were Sao Paulo in Brazil and Izmir in Turkey.

"We renew our promise to astonish the world in 2020," said Sheikh al-Maktoum after the win.

"Dubai Expo 2020 will breathe new life into the ancient role of the Middle East as a melting pot for cultures and creativity."

Dubai authorities say the Expo 2020 will bring in around $23bn (£14bn, 17bn euros). They say financing for the six-month event will cost a total of $8.4bn (£5.2bn, 6.2bn euros), with the government spending around $6.5bn (£4bn, 4.8bn euros) on infrastructure projects.

A huge exhibition centre will be built to host the event, plus new hotels and an extension to Dubai's metro line.

The 2015 Expo takes place in Milan.

Nepali Congress Emerged As Single Largest Party in Nepal Constituent Assembly Elections

Nepali Congress (NC) emerged as single largest Party in the second Constituent Assembly elections which are held on 19 November 2013

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) stood a close second position and the UCPN (Maoist) party is in a distant third position.
                                               

         
Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held under two categories — first-past-the-post and proportional representation. A total of 240 seats were allocated in the first category and 365 seats in the proportional representation category. The remaining 26 seats in the 601-member will be nominated by the Cabinet laterclick here for more information about Nepal Constituent Assembly Elections .

A total of 301 seats are needed for majority and to form a government.

Nepali Congress Party wins 105 of the 240 directly elected seats followed by Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) with 91 and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with 26.

The NC has also emerged a clear front-runner in both the electoral formats. It won 105 seats under the direct election of candidates and has so far bagged 26 per cent under the PR system. The CPN (UML) is a close second with 91 seats and 25 per cent, respectively. The largest party in the last assembly- the UCPN (Maoist) is in a distant third position. 

RBI Widens Infrastructure Sector Lending Sub-Category

Mumbai: Reserve Bank today widened the definition of infrastructure lending including hotels with project costing more than Rs. 200 crore as well as convention centres with project worth Rs. 300 crore.
                               
"The government has further updated the harmonised master list...the new sub-sectors have been added in the list. Hotels with project cost of more than Rs. 200 crore each in any place in India and of any star rating. Convention centres with project cost of more than Rs. 300 crore each," RBI said in a notification.
                                       

         
RBI said that the new sub-sectors will get classified as 'infrastructure' for the purpose of lending by banks and select All India Term-Lending and Refinancing Institutions from the date of this circular.

Various sub-sectors under the categories such as Transport, Energy, Water & Sanitation, Communication, Social and Commercial RBI Widens Infrastructure come under infrastructure lending.

Hotel and convention centre come under 'Social and Commercial Infrastructure' category for this kind of lending.

The Finance Ministry has favoured relaxation of lending rules for infrastructure projects in order to expedite them.

Also, it has written to the RBI suggesting changes in the rules for infrastructure financing, including the treatment of non-performing loans to the sector.

In January, the government set up the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) to accord fast track clearances to large projects. Till September, the CCI had cleared 209 projects worth Rs. 3.84 lakh crore.

Further the Prime Minister's Project Monitoring Group (PMG), set up to track stalled large investment projects, has cleared 128 projects worth over Rs. 4.30 lakh crore so far.

Iran And P5+1 Group of Nations Clinched Nuclear Deal

Iran and P5+1 group of Nations reached a breakthrough deal on 24 November 2013 to curb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for limited sanctions relief.
                                                     
An agreement to this effect was signed at UN Headquarters in Geneva on 24 November 2013 between the Chief negotiator for the six nations, Catherine Marie Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarief.                                              

The interim deal for six months is intended to give time and space to the international community to work towards a comprehensive agreement. After four days of negotiations, representatives of P5+1 group of nations - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran.

Salient feature of the Deal

• Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond 5 percent, the level at which it can be used for weapons research, and reduce its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond this point.

• Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites.

• In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months.

• Iran will also receive sanctions relief worth about 7bn Dollars (£4.3bn) on sectors including precious metals.

Prof CNR Rao Elected to Chinese Academy of Sciences

Eminent Scientist and Bharat Ratna Awardee Prof CNR Rao was on 4 November 2013 elected as honorary foreign member of Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).

He is first Indian to be elected to this prestigious Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) which comprises of many Nobel laureates and eminent scientist across the world.
                                                 

 
CNR Rao has been elected to almost all scientific academies of the world including The Royal Society-London, National Academy of Science-USA, Pontifical Academy of Science, Japan Academy and Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, among others.

About Prof CNR Rao

Prof. Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao (CNR Rao) was born on 30 June 1934, Bangalore, India. He is an eminent scientist and a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry.

He has published over 1400 research papers and 45 books. Prof. CNR Rao's contributions have been recognized by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships. He has been honoured with several national and international awards, including Padma Vibhushan.

Prof. CNR Rao was founder and Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. Prof, CNR Rao is presently serving as the head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

The Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister is the uppermost body that deliberates on various policy issues, pertaining to Science & Technology and also on the role it can play in the upliftment of the Indian economy.